Earth rippers



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United States Patent 01 fice 3,519,083 EARTH RIPPERS Olly O. Stolrel, San Diego, Calif. (P.O. Box 425, Escondido, Calif. 92025) Filed May 20, 1966, Ser. No. 551,636 Int. Cl. H01b 39/10 U.S. Cl. 17240 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE I A vibrating ripper having a support blade connected to a drawbar and that extends downwardly, with a working blade positioned forward of the support blade andbeing pivotally connected to the support blade so that a vibrating unit connected to the working blade causes the working blade to move in a pivotal movement around the pivotal connection and rips the material through which the ripper is moving.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to earth plows or rippers in general, and more specifically to an earth ripper capable of breaking up the earth through which it is being drawn, independent of the drawing force. Although this invention is shown and described in connection with heavy road construction equipment, this is in no way intended to limit its application with respect to other and various earth plowing or ripping equipment.

In order to construct a road bed it is often necessary to remove large quantities of earth. This is generally accomplished by first breaking up the earth andthen removing it with power shovels or earth movers. The process of breaking up the earth is accomplished by drawing a large single blade plow or ripper through the earth with a tractor, the size of said tractor being dependent upon the consistancy of the earth. Considerable time as well as a sizable portion of the construction cost is consumed by this earth ripping or breaking operation. It is,

therefore, desirable to utilize an earth plowing or ripping mechanism capable of performing the work required with greater efficiency than is now possible.

The general object of my invention is to provide an improved design for an earth ripper which may be utilized in lieu of a conventional earth ripper for the purpose of reducing the working force required to perform any given earth ripping or breaking operation.

This and other objects have been attained in an earth ripper of novel construction embodying myinvention and comprising a support blade, a working blade, and a power 1 mechanism. Extending from the bottom of the said power mechanism are a support flange and -two operating flanges. The said support flange is connected to two rocker plates by a single support flange pin. The said two rocker plates are connected to the said support blade by a single rocker plate pin. The said two operating flanges are connected to the said working blade by a single operating flange pin. Attached to the said working blade are two earth shields, one on either side of said working blade. The said Working blade is attached to the said support blade by a single pivot pin which extends through the said two earth shields and the said support blade. A drawbar is attached to the said support blade in a suitable manner, such as by four drawbar bolts.

How the above objects and advantages of my invention are attained will be more readily understood by reference to the following description and to the annexed drawing in which the single view is a side illustration of an earth ripper unit constructed according to my invention, the parts being shown in the neutral or centered position.

Referring now to the drawing, the earth ripper unit as embodied in a preferred form of my invention is shown as an accessory unit which can be attached to the rear of a vehicular prime mover such as a tractor.

The earth ripper unit comprises a support blade 10, a working blade 11, and a power mechanism 12. A support flange 13 and two operating flanges 14 and 15 are attached to the bottom of power mechanism 12 by a suitable means such as by welding.

Support flange 13 is attached to two rocker plates 16 and 17 by support flange pin 18 which extends through rocker plate 17, through support flange 13 and through rocker plate 16, said support flange pin 18 being retained in place by a suitable means such as pin 19.

Rocker plates 16 and 17 are attached to the upper portion of support blade 10 by rocker plate pin 20 which extends through rocker plate 17, through support blade 10, and through rocker plate 16, said rocker plate pin 20 being retained in place by a suitable means such as pin 21.

Operating flanges 14 and 15 fit one on either side of the upper portion of working blade 11 and are attached to working blade 11 by operating flange pin 22 which extends through operating flange 15, through working blade 11, and through operating flange 14, said Operating flange pin 22 being retained in place by a suitable means such as pin 23.

Two earth shields 24 and 25 are located one on either side of working blade 11 and support blade 10 and are attached to working blade 11 by a suitable means, such as by welding. The working blade assembly, comprising working blade 11 and earth shields 24 and 25, is attached to support blade 10 by pivot pin 26 which extends through earth shield 25, through support blade 10, and through earth shield 24, said pivot pin 26 being retained in place by a suitable means such as pin '27.

A drawbar means 28 is attached to support blade 10 by a suitable means, such as by bolts 29, 30, 31, and 32.

Having described the construction of a preferred form of my invention, I shall now describe briefly its operation. It will be understood that prior to any application of power to power mechanism 12 and an operating force to drawbar 28, support blade 10 and working blade 11 are buried in the earth to earth surface line A.

In order to start the earth ripping or plowing action, the vehicular prime mover operator first applies power to power mechanism 12. Power mechanism 12 is a conventional power mechanism which, when energized, creates a rapid oscillating motion along its horizontal front to rear axis, the amount of travel during each oscillation being dependent upon the frequency of oscillation and the physical resistance encountered with respect to the power output capacity of the unit and the amount of applied energizing force.

Assume now that power mechanism 12 starts its oscillating motion by moving from the neutral or centered position as illustrated in FIG. 1 to the left. This movement of power mechanism 12 to the left is transmitted to working blade 11 via operating flanges 14 and 15 and operating flange pin 22, causing working blade 11 to pivot in a counter clockwise direction around pivot pin 26 and thereby causing tip 33 of working blade 11 to impart a vertical force to the earth situated directly above it.

As power mechanism 12 commences to move to the right, working blade 11 is pivoted in a clockwise direction around pivot pin 26, causing that portion of the leading edge of working blade 11 situated above pivot pin 26 to cut into the earth and, at the same time, causing tip 33 of working table 11 to move downward into the earth.

The power mechanism support assembly, comprising support flange 13, rocker plates 16 and 17, support flange pin 18, and rocker plate pin 20, supports that portion of power mechanism 12 which is situated above support 3 blade in such a manner as to allow power mechanism 12 to oscillate from right to left to right with a rocking motion.

Earth shields 24 and 25, in addition to forming the pivotal members of working blade 11, retard the buildup of earth between working blade 11 and support blade 10 and maintain the alignment of working blade 11 with respect to support blade 10.

Once power has been applied to power mechanism 12, the vehicular prime mover operator causes prime mover 34 to apply a drawing force to drawbar 28, thus causing the earth ripper unit to move through the earth.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that various changes in the design of my earth ripper unit may occur to persons skilled in the art but without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. A vibrating ripper unit for ripping material having a support blade secured to a drawbar,

said support blade extending below said drawbar,

a working blade positioned forwardly of said support blade and its lower portion being pivotally connected to said support blade at a location below said drawbar,

said working blade has a length at least as long as the length of said support blade below said drawbar for contacting material to be ripped,

vibrator means connected to said working blade for vibrating said working blade on said pivotal connection,

and rocker means for pivotally supporting a part of said vibrator means on said support blade with free movement of said vibrator means on said support blade.

2. A vibrating ripper unit as claimed in claim 1 in which,

said vibrator is secured to the upper end of said working blade.

3. A vibrating ripper unit as claimed in claim 2 in which,

said support blade and said working blade extend substantially the same distance below said drawbar,

and said pivotal connection is positioned in the lower portion of said working blade.

4. A vibrating ripper unit as claimed in claim 1 in which,

said working blade is spaced forward of said support blade and has rearwardly directed side plates that are pivotally secured to said support blade.

5. A vibrating ripper unit as claimed in claim 4 in which,

said working blade has a forward curved projecting portion at the lower end thereof for contacting material to be ripped,

said vibrator means is capable of creating vibrating force in the horizontal direction,

and said pivotal connection being positioned adjacent the lower end of said working blade wherein said vibrating force moves said curved projecting portion up and down.

6. A vibrating ripper unit as claimed in claim 4 in which,

said side plates substantially enclose the space between said working blade and said support blade for preventing ripped material from passing therebetween.

7. A vibrating ripper unit having a support blade secured to a drawbar,

said support blade extending below said drawbar,

a working blade positioned forward of said support blade and being pivotally connected to said support blade at a location below said drawbar,

4 vibrator means connected with said working blade for vibrating said working blade on said pivotal connection, the upper ends of said support blade and working blade extend above said drawbar, said vibrating means has a rigidly connected first link that is pivotally connected to the upper end of said working blade, and said vibrating means has a pivotally connected sec- 0nd link that is pivotally connected to the upper end of said support blade. 8. An earth ripper unit as claimed in claim 7 in which, said pivotal connection between said working blade and said support blade is positioned rearwardly of the vertical location of said first link and forward of the vertical location of said second link. In a vibrating ripper for ripping material,

terial,

a working blade positioned in front of said support member in the direction of the movement through the material,

said working blade having an elongated length with an upper elongated working face and a lower forward projecting tip portion,

said working member is pivotally secured to said support member at a location adjacent the rear surface of said working member and at a location adjacent the lower portion of said working member,

vibrator means for vibrating said working member in pivotal movement on said pivotal connection to vibrate said upper working face in substantially the direction of movement through the material and to vibrate said tip portion in a direction substantially normal to the direction of movement through the material,

and rocker means for pivotally supporting a part of said vibrator means on said support blade with free movement of said vibrator means on said support blade.

10. In a vibrating ripper as claimed in claim 9 in which,

said working blade is pivotally secured to said support member at a location adjacent the rear portion of said working blade.

11. In a vibrating ripper as claimed in claim 9 in which,

said working blade is pivotally secured to said support member at a location adjacent the intersection of the upper working face and the lower forward projecting tip portion.

12. In a vibrating ripper as claimed in claim 9 in which,

said support member comprises an elongated member that extends substantially parallel to said working blade.

' 13. In a vibrating ripper as claimed in claim 9 in which, said vibrator means comprises a vibrator that is secured to the upper end of said working blade.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner R. C. HARRINGTON, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

a support member for being moved through the ma- 

